{"id":540474,"date":"2026-04-04T15:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540474\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T15:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:49:14","slug":"carolina-hurricanes-shayne-gostisbeheres-emerging-role-as-a-two-way-defenseman-the-hockey-writers-carolina-hurricanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540474\/","title":{"rendered":"Carolina Hurricanes’ Shayne Gostisbehere’s Emerging Role as a Two-Way Defenseman – The Hockey Writers – Carolina Hurricanes"},"content":{"rendered":"

When looking at the roles of defensemen, players typically fall into the offensive, two-way, or defensive defenseman skillset. After that, they usually stay within that role for their careers. Sometimes you\u2019ll see players\u2019 roles change or develop into a hybrid of two different styles.<\/p>\n

The Carolina Hurricanes\u2019 Shayne Gostisbehere<\/a> has been mainly viewed as a purely offensive defenseman for most of his career. However, as the 2025-26 season has progressed, there\u2019s been a shift in Gostisbehere\u2019s emerging role as more than a purely offensive blueliner.<\/p>\n

Gostisbehere\u2019s Changing Role to a Two-Way Defender<\/p>\n

In a season that has seen him out with injury four times, Gostisbehere has still been impactful on the ice. Over the course of 49 games<\/a>, \u201cGhost\u201d is ninth on the team in goals (13), fourth in assists (34), and fifth in points (47). He surpassed last season\u2019s point total of 45 in 70 games.<\/p>\n

Related: Hurricanes\u2019 Shayne Gostisbehere Should Be Involved in USA Olympic Hockey Discussions<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s being effective despite missing more games comparatively. If he had not missed so much time, there is no doubt that he would have surpassed Brent Burns<\/a>\u2018 record for most points in a season for a Hurricanes defenseman (61). Out of his 13 goals, six have come on the man-advantage, something that is not surprising given his role as the top power-play unit\u2019s quarterback.<\/p>\n

The impressive notion is that Gostisbehere, when on the ice, is marginally razor-thin close to being a point-per-game defenseman. While his role for most of his career has been an offensive defenseman, even in the 23 games of his first stint with the Hurricanes in 2022-23 and his first full season with the team in 2024-25, this season has seen a shift in how he\u2019s been utilized. <\/p>\n

During the 2024-25 season, Gostisbehere\u2019s zone time breakdown<\/a> was 30.7% in the defensive zone, compared to 17.9% in the neutral zone and 51.3% in the offensive zone. In 2025-26, that has changed to 32.5% in the defensive zone, along with 17.8% in the neutral zone and 49.8% in the offensive zone.<\/p>\n

In terms of defensive and offensive zone breakdowns, those are both in the 99th percentile in the two seasons. While it doesn\u2019t seem like much of a difference, Gostisbehere is being used more in the defensive zone.<\/p>\n

\"ShayneCarolina Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere takes a shot on goal (Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

When compared to the top 10 skaters in the NHL in terms of zone time in all strengths, Gostisbehere is first when it comes to the offensive and defensive breakdowns. Within the terms of the offensive zone time, he is ahead of names like Andrei Svechnikov (49.4%), Brady Tkachuk (48.9%), Zach Hyman (48.3%), and Seth Jarvis (48.3%).<\/p>\n

On the flip side, for the defensive zone breakdowns, he\u2019s also first there as well. Gostisbehere is ahead of Jarvis, Svehchnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Jackson Blake for the top five. That\u2019s not including Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, and Dylan Cozens, who are within the top 10.<\/p>\n

There have been times throughout the season that Gostisbehere has backchecked to stop opponents from getting shots on the goal, along with being able to create turnovers, which has led to odd-man rushes. While the Hurricanes want guys to bring their own strengths to the roster, if there is stuff to work on and get better at, they will do that as well.<\/p>\n

Related: Hurricanes Punch Ticket to 8th Straight Playoff Appearance<\/a><\/p>\n

When the defense coach is Stanley Cup winner Tim Gleason, that is a boost for the defensemen. It\u2019s clear when watching in person or on a broadcast that Gostisbehere has made some big plays defensively.<\/p>\n

While he still may lean more offensively with his skillset, Gostisbehere in 2025-26 has emerged as more than just a pure offensive shooter. He has adapted to a role that helps the Hurricanes as they are now locked in for their eighth straight playoff appearance. He\u2019s been paired with Alexander Nikishin for most of the season, helping guide him along the way as another more offensively minded defenseman. In doing so, that is why Gostisbehere has morphed into his new \u201crole\u201d as a two-way defenseman. <\/p>\n

Whether or not he is classified as a \u201ctwo-way\u201d defenseman, Gostisbehere\u2019s game has grown over the course of 2025-26 to indicate that it is not only pure offense. He has adapted a more defensive style of play as well, and it\u2019s paid off in a season that wasn\u2019t dragged down by injuries. He\u2019s been a big piece on the blue line and on the special teams in different roles and situations. In doing so, could there be a contract extension to keep Gostisbehere in Carolina past the 2026-27 season? Only time will tell.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When looking at the roles of defensemen, players typically fall into the offensive, two-way, or defensive defenseman skillset.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5107],"tags":[194,29,5176,5,195,4,2823],"class_list":{"0":"post-540474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-hurricanes","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","10":"tag-carolinahurricanes","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-hurricanes","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-shayne-gostisbehere"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116347235655024430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}